It's #hedgehogawarenessweek, 🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🌿🌱🍃🌳🌲 a good time to take stock and become aware that hedgehogs are in decline mainly because people insist on stupid garden designs, including e.g. patios, decking, artificial grass, perfect fencing (which blocks hedgehog travel routes), obsession with tidy gardens which ruin wildlife not just hedgehogs; unnatural, manicured, potted, pebbled, concrete front and back so-called gardens (which destroy habitat and food source).
I am a strong advocate of wildlife, natural gardens because they improve air quality, something we keep going on about, and protect all wildlife from insects to a variety of birds and butterflies to hedgehogs. It's a whole ecosystem. Imagine if everyone had a wildlife garden it would decrease pollution big time! Being closer to nature is also known to make people happier! And children learn about caring for the environment and animals which means they will be less cruel to wildlife.
There's a new OCR GCSE which is environment-based (natural history) to help children connect with nature and be conservation aware! Environmental Science (GCSE and A Level) is already up and running and is an uni subject! (I've done many long distance uni environmental science courses!). So it's a good time to start developing your wildlife garden! Your kids will get a better grade!
Indeed, it's the anti-wildlife, tidy gardens neighbourhood brigade which are grumpy and try to sabotage your wildlife garden, no doubt, putting many off developing their own wildlife gardens.
The scientific name for the British hedgehog is Erinaceus europaeus 🦔. It's a small mammal with long spikes along its back and sides (about 7,000 of them!) made of keratin, which is the same material as your nails. Hedgehogs have been around since before the woolly mammoth so it's even more worrying that they are declining in such numbers. There are now up to half the number than before the millennium. As nocturnal animals they are rarely seen during the day unless they are in distress or ill in which case contact Tiggywinkles 24/7 for advice and help. We need to save every hedgehog we can before they become extinct as an overall species. (There are several species of hedgehog.)
Hedgehogs like to live in so-called overgrown gardens, which include uncut hedges, thick greenery, long grass, with plenty of leaves lying around so they can forage for nesting materials and bedding. Hedgehogs like to lead a quiet, undisturbed life and need easy access to food sources, in particular, insects, because they are insectivores (although they will also eat dead birds and chicks when the opportunity arises). They enjoy foraging for insects when rummaging through leafy heaps using their acute sense of smell with their snouts and their small, close to the ground, ears that pick up the tiniest of sounds e.g. insects running around. 🐜🐜🐜🕷🕷🐛🐛🐌🐌These insects are important for biodiversity and sustaining bird life as well. So many common gardening activities are negatively impacting on wildlife in a variety of ways, from disrupting their natural habitat to depriving them of food and nests or even harming or killing them.
Gardening is too centered around controlling nature rather than benefiting it or appreciating naturally growing trees, flowers, plants, bushes and so on and enjoying the wildlife that it attracts. All these different forms of life interact and create an ecosystem which is vital if we want to preserve species, be they insect, bird, bee, mammal or trees and plants. Leaving your garden to grow naturally means you never need to plant anything because foliage simply pops up where, for instance, birds have been working the land. I see them pecking at branches and buds to encourage growth, raking over dry soil to create grassy areas and disperse seeds so new vegetation fills up seemingly barren soil. Birds play a very important role in the plant ecosystem because they take part in a process called mutualism. When plants bear fruit, birds eat the fruit and the seeds and in return they create new plants by dispersing these seeds as they, for example, carry their food away; eat it in a different location; wipe their beaks on branches to clean the seeds off thus allowing the seeds to fall and grow in a different place from where they originated; or by simply letting seeds fall off them as they fly.
Other factors that endanger hedgehogs are inconsiderate habits, such as, not looking and checking for hedgehogs while gardening. This leads to people harming hedgehogs with their strimmer as they use it to cut grass and weeds the effortless, lazy way. Other garden tools that could harm hedgehogs and other wildlife are garden power tools, such as, garden vacs, shredders and leaf blowers. The latter isn't even eco-friendly or good for your garden because it makes soil compact and bare by damaging the top soil, leaving it unhealthy and liable to further erosion. 🤦Thinning out soil also encourages flooding when it rains. Leaves should in fact be left on lawns because it helps drainage and enriches the soil as it decomposes. All these power tools have a similar effect on a small scale (ie your garden) as deforestation, mining and damming has on a large scale (forests, landscapes) hence they cause the same ecological harm. 😠 Power tools also cause noise pollution which distresses wildlife and which residents find deeply annoying mainly because it ruins the tranquillity of their garden.
They also unnecessarily and carelessly rake over open compost heaps which are teeming with insects which provide food for wildlife and may possibly include a nesting hedgehog. Many hedgehogs suffer burns every year from another unnecessary activity, lighting bonfires 🔥which cause air pollution as well as disturbing, burning and sometimes killing hedgehogs who enjoy nesting under log piles and dry heaps of leaves and twigs. 😢🦔🌿 Another garden tidy type of stupid activity is using pesticides which can kill hedgehogs and other creatures and are generally unhealthy chemicals for humans to handle or be around! At least from now on, people in the UK cannot buy metaldehyde slug pellets. Besides, you can use natural alternatives to pesticides if necessary.
Furthermore, when preserving your fence, you need to be aware of whether you are using a hedgehog-friendly preservative because hedgehogs are prone to licking the fence after it's been freshly applied. Also think about what human-made things you leave unattended. Hedgehogs are excellent climbers so keep lids on paint pots; cover swimming pools and provide a ramp next to ponds because, although hedgehogs can swim, they will struggle to get themselves out of anywhere that is pit-shaped.
Anti-social behaviour also kills animals because dumping rubbish in and around wildlife gardens also endangers and kills the animals within it through eating something or drinking something that disagrees with them; choking on something; suffocating on packaging; getting trapped or injured; and causing them stress and distress by littering their environment.
Disturbing hedgehogs and their young can be fatal. Unless hurt, or seriously underweight, it's best to leave hedgehogs, to go about their business without any interference from humans. They react badly if they smell that a human has been near their nesting area or young. Feeding them is unnecessary if you give them a garden that has the ecosystem to support them. The only really important thing to do is leave easy access to water on a saucer so they can comfortably reach it to drink. Milk kills! 🥛 So don't leave out milk or bread for hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs hibernate which means that a 'do not disturb' sign has been put up. Although you check for hibernating hedgehogs when doing any gardening don't interact with them or disturb them if you come across one. This is because you will shock them out of hibernation which makes them lose fat. This stored fat will need replacing to help them re-hibernate. In which case, leave out food (cat food, dog food, cat biscuits and water) so they regain strength and lost energy without losing further energy foraging for food!
Every garden should provide enough water in various sized containers to sustain, not just hedgehogs but all the wildlife in it! 💦 This water needs replacing regularly to keep it clean, fresh and drinkable. Birds also like to wash and splash about in it so the containers need to remain full to the brim.
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